OnMay 10, 2014, Tenth National Technical & Vocational Practical SpokenEnglish Contest (Shanghai Final) was successfully held in SICFL. This contestwas sponsored by Higher Education Department of Shanghai Municipal EducationCommission and hosted by Shanghai International Studies Association, Technical& Vocational Foreign Language Foreign Language Instruction Committee andShanghai Industry & Commerce Foreign Language College. 46 contestants from29 local Technical & Vocational Institutions of Higher Learningparticipated in this contest.

Atthe opening ceremony, Professor Zhu Shichang, Vice President of SICFL deliveredan opening speech, extending a warm welcome on behalf of SICFL to all thecontestants and their supervisors. Professor Lu Shiyuan, the Honorary Presidentof Shanghai International Studies Association and Mr. Xu Guoliang, the DeputyDirector of Higher Education Department also spoke at the ceremony. ProfessorChen Mingjuan, the Chairperson of Shanghai International Studies Association,Technical & Vocational Foreign Language Foreign Language InstructionCommittee, Ms. Zhou Menghua Vice Chairperson and Secretary Geeral of ShanghaiInternational Studies Association, Technical & Vocational Foreign LanguageForeign Language Instruction Committee and Ms. Xin Ling were also present onthe occasion.

TheContest was divided into two major sections, English majors and non-Englishmajors. Each contestant was judged in two parts: “Description ofsituations/diagrams and questions related to the situations/diagrams” and “Debateon the suggested topics”. Through the intense competition, Wang Yucheng fromShanghai Second Polytechnic University and Huang Yifei from ShanghaiPolytechnic College of Urban Management won the First Prize among Englishmajors and non-English majors respectively. Xi Lingwei from the Department ofEnglish and He Mengjia from the Department of Business won the Second Prize inthese two groups respectively.

ProfessorHua Zhongle commented on the performance of contestants on behalf of the Panelof Judges, saying that this contest was well organized not only for the topicschosen but also in its organizational work. He stressed that no matter what theresult of the contest was, schools and teachers should all take pride in thecontestants because after all contestants would benefit a great deal not onlyfrom the contest itself but also exert much positive impact n their futuredevelopment. Professor Hua also wished that contestants enhance their abilityto think and respond quickly and logically so as to make their speech morepersuasive. (Contributed by Departments of Public English Teaching & Departmentof English)